Thinking should take place at the middle and top level managements ONLY

This time Dr. T. Prasad had brought a number of cubes, slightly bigger than a dice. He started throwing the cubes towards us randomly and posed two questions before us.

Question 1: How many cubes would you be able to stack one above the other?

Question 2: Scenario is same as that given in question 1. But the challenge is the person building the structure will be blindfolded and he/she can take the help of another person who would direct the blindfolded person on where to place the cubes and the like.

We all came up with some numbers and then the process of building the structure began with a volunteer. He could build a tower with 22 cubes stacked one above the other.

Now comes the most challenging part – building the tower by a blindfolded person. One person volunteered to get blindfolded and two others came forward to help him out. 

Guess what!! 

They managed to stack more than 22 cubes one above the other.

Learning from this session:

The single person who managed to build the tower is like a craftsman. He can think and can act how he likes to.

The blindfolded person is like an employee at bottom of organisational hierarchy. He is not supposed to think. Just carry out the instructions given to him.

The two persons who helped the blindfolded person were like the manager and the head of the organization.

The number of cubes stacked one above the other represented productivity and efficiency.

Inference:

Productivity and efficiency can be improved if the process of thinking and strategy building are under the purview of the management, and, the laborers focus only on blindly carrying out the tasks assigned to them.

First discussion with Dr. Mandi

Dr. T. Prasad interacting with students

During class one of Principles of organisation and management I was surprised to see a professor walking into our class and occupying a space on the floor. Prof. T. Prasad, popularly known as Dr. Mandi also invited us to come forward and sit on the floor around him. It facilitated us to have a discussion with him rather than having to listen to a lecture.

Earn while you learn

We discussed on a variety of issues like earning while learning, selling toys which could be used for educational purposes, the amount of learning that could be achieved by selling products on the streets. Dr. Mandi projected his ideas using a more practical approach. His examples of students who had started earning while they were still midway in their education were motivating.

He pulled out a couple of toys like Newton’s cradle from his bag and explained how they could be sold on the streets of Mumbai so that it would be great learning experience for the students. This gives students an opportunity to have firsthand experience of sales. We understood that ‘Sales’ is that kind of an activity which can nullify the ego of any person. Sales helps us understand the minds of the people better. We also came to know that the way a product is held by a sales person is very crucial. 


Also, we understood that donating the realization of the sales activity for charitable purposes brings a sense of social responsibility among students.